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There may have been some hope at the beginning of last year's slide. Net revenue was taking a hit as a result of costly stocking fees to get the company's eclectic flavors into new retailers. However, now it's the actual viability of Jones Soda as a brand that's at stake, since even gross revenue took a sharp 25% hit during the period.

Sorry, Jones. The market just isn't that into you anymore. When you see a 45% plunge in concentrate sales to distributor National Beverage(NASDAQ:FIZZ) and the company bellyaching over discontinued lines at Wal-Mart(NYSE:WMT) you better start worrying. Small deals like its role as the exclusive provider of canned soft drinks on Alaska Air(NYSE:ALK) flights aren't enough.

Jones Soda is responding to its waning street cred by retreating further into its shell. It is scaling back promotional allowances to retailers and whacking away at its workforce. Naturally having fewer bodies around and dealing with less motivated outlets is only going to make sales deteriorate even more. The hope here is that the company will be able to shave enough overhead to give it time for another crack at winning back soda sippers it lost to mainstream bottlers like Coca-Cola(NYSE:KO) or those who have migrated to the energy drink market fueled by fast-growing players like Red Bull and Hansen Natural(NASDAQ:HANS).

Either way, the company isn't done defacing itself just yet. I guess it's hard to appeal to the emo kids when you have no more "mo."

Jones Soda is a formerRule Breakersnewsletter stock pick.Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart have made the cut asInside Valuerecommendations.Want to drink from the free-flowing fountain of market-thumping stock ideas? Both newsletters qualify for afree 30-day taste test. Drink up!

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz actually enjoyed the Jones Soda candy corn, pumpkin, and caramel apple sodas that Target sold for Halloween two years ago. He also owns shares in Jones Soda. He is part of theRule Breakersnewsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.TheFool has a disclosure policy.

Author

Rick has been writing for Motley Fool since 1995 where he's a Consumer and Tech Stocks Specialist. Yes, that's a long time with more than 20,000 bylines over those 22 years. He's been an analyst for Motley Fool Rule Breakers and a portfolio lead analyst for Motley Fool Supernova since each newsletter service's inception. He earned his BBA and MBA from the University of Miami, and he splits his time living in Miami, Florida and Celebration, Florida.
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